Airhead

And Mr Stark said, ‘Thank God,’ and started taking out his cufflinks. I was sitting right on the desk in front of him, so I just went, ‘Mr Stark? Can I talk to you a minute?’

And he looked down at me, and went, ‘No.’

Seriously! Just like that!

But I’m not a straight-A student — and haven’t gotten to level fortyfive in Journeyquest — for nothing. I mean, I’m no quitter.

And not even a billionaire corporate executive who also runs an underground brain-transplant clinic is going to thwart me.

‘It’s just… ’ I said in a low voice as everyone around us was gathering up power cords and taking down the blackout curtains. ‘Don’t you think what you’re doing is wrong? I mean, about Nikki.’

He looked right at me. His eyes, I noticed, were brown, with tiny ruby glints in them. Or maybe that was just the way they looked in the klieg lights, which were being turned off, one by one.

‘Don’t get me wrong,’ I went on quickly. ‘I’m totally grateful for what Doctor Holcombe did for me. And I am totally willing to go through with my end of the contract. But don’t you think Nikki’s friends — her family — deserve to know the truth? So they can mourn her properly? I mean, some people even think she was in rehab last month. How unfair is that? I’m sure once they understand your issue with the whole thing, they’ll get it. It’s just that you can’t go around replacing one person with a completely different one, you know. It’s not right. I know Nikki might have been a model and all, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t have a unique personality and people who loved her. And, I’m not sure you’re aware of this, but someone loaded that computer you gave her with keystroke-tracking software—’

‘JESSICA!’ Mr Stark startled me by yelling.

One of the ponytailed girls in the fancy glasses came scurrying up. ‘Yes, sir?’

‘Jessica, get my coat. Is my reservation at Per Se all set?’

‘Yes, sir,’ Jessica said, trailing after her boss as he strode away from me. ‘And your car’s waiting downstairs —’

It was only then that I realized: Robert Stark was walking away from me! He was just walking away from me, as if I hadn’t said anything! As if I was just… not even there! As if I was just… just…

An airhead model.

‘But — Mr Stark!’ I called after him.

But Robert Stark just kept going, walking out of his office without so much as a second glance at me. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe how he’d just walked away like that. The one person I thought could help me — or not even me so much as Nikki — and he’d just completely ignored me, as if I was a fly. Or a busboy.

Or a girl.

‘Don’t even bother,’ a deep voice behind me advised.

I turned around and found myself looking up at Brandon. Brandon was staring after his father with a look I can only describe as… well. Not very friendly.

‘He doesn’t speak to the talent,’ Brandon informed me.

I stared at him in confusion. ‘The talent? You mean… ’

Me. I’m the talent.

‘Or to me,’ Brandon added bitterly, ‘if he can help it. He’s much too busy and important.’

‘But.’ I shook my head, not sure I understood. ‘He’s your dad. Of course he can’t be too busy for you.’

Brandon gave me a strange look. Then he said, ‘You really do have amnesia, don’t you?’

And with that, he turned around and walked away before I could say another word.

I was on my way back to the changing area to slip into my own clothes, when I ran into Rebecca and Kelly.

‘Darling, you were fabulous!’ Rebecca cried.

‘I wasn’t,’ I said to her. My neck still throbbed from the way Raoul had made me arch it. ‘I didn’t know what I was doing. And Mr Stark hates me.’ Although, truthfully, I wasn’t sure that was such a bad thing…

‘So you’re a little rusty,’ Rebecca said with a shrug. ‘You hit your head! That we should all look so good after concussion. And Bob Stark hates everybody. Uh, this is ringing —’ She held out the cellphone my mom had given to me. It was flashing my home number. My mom was calling, no doubt about di

I let it go to voicemail. ‘I’ll call her back,’ I said. I didn’t think I could handle my mom and all her questions — and concerns — just then.

‘Great,’ Rebecca said. ‘Now, Kelly and I want to take you out for di

I glanced over my shoulder at Brandon, who was already on his way to the elevators.

‘Uh, Brandon’s got other plans,’ I said. ‘And actually, I’m really tired. I think I’m just going to head back to the loft and crash, if that’s OK. I mean, I just got out of the hospital this morning, and I’ve got school in the morning—’

‘Say no more,’ Rebecca said with a smile. ‘We’ll do it another time. Tomorrow afternoon, after the Elle shoot, perhaps.’

‘Tomorrow?’ I stared at her. ‘We have a shoot tomorrow?’

‘Honey, you are booked solid all this week,’ Kelly said, thrusting Cosabella into my arms. ‘You are on fire, you’re so hot right now. Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider this going-back-to-school thing? Because it’s really cutting into your availability—’

‘No,’ I said. ‘I mean, yes. I mean, I have to go to school’ I wanted to. How else was I going to find out if Christopher was into me at all? Oh, and get an education?

Kelly shook her head. ‘This school thing’s go

‘Well, I think it’s great,’ Rebecca said to me. ‘Christy Turlington ended up studying comparative religion and eastern philosophy at NYU, you know. If she can do it, you can. Although, how smart could she be if she thought Fashion Cafe would ever take off?’

‘Um,’ I said, because I had no idea what she was talking about, ‘I should go… ’

‘Of course you should.’ Rebecca took me by the arm and started steering me back to the changing area. ‘Girls! Nikki has to go!’

And, like magic, a few seconds later, I had been stripped of my ethereal dress and stilettos, and was back in my own clothes, in a limo heading back downtown — by myself, this time. And in my lap — besides Cosabella — was something Rebecca had handed me on my way out.

‘Oh,’ she’d said. ‘Here. I’ve been meaning to give you this.’

And she’d passed me a bronze-leather tote marked Prada, that caused my shoulder to sag, it was so heavy.

‘What’s this?’ I’d asked curiously.

‘Hon,’ Rebecca had said with a laugh. ‘It’s your purse! You dropped it the day of the accident. I’ve been holding it for you. Your life is in there. Your Sidekick, your cellphone, your credit cards… hold on to it this time, all right, honey?’

Now, in the limo, I dumped the contents of Nikki Howard’s bag into my lap and marvelled at what I found there.

I’d suspected before. But now I knew for sure.

I was rich.

Nikki Howard had a platinum American Express card, two gold Visas, a gold Mastercard, a platinum Chase bank card for quick ATM withdrawals, tons of cash (four hundred and twenty-seven dollars’ worth), and a chequebook that said she had three hundred and six thousand, six hundred and thirty-two dollars and eleven cents in her savings account, and twenty-two thousand dollars in her current account.

And that was just what was in her bank account. Who knew what she had invested? Because I found a business card for a Smith Barney investment adviser that was tattered and looked well used.

I was freaking loaded. Not enough to buy myself out of my Stark contract. But I could help my parents out if they ran into problems. This was awesome.

The first thing I did (after admiring Nikki’s neatly balanced chequebook) was check out her cellphone. But, like the one my mom had given me, it was Stark-brand. Same thing for the Sidekick. The batteries of both were dead from having gone without use for so long, so it wasn’t like I could turn them on to check (and even if I had, I wouldn’t have been able to tell myself. Only the Commander would have been able to know for sure). But I suspected they, like Nikki’s laptop, might have been tapped.